


You are precious to me

by Ilyasviel



Series: Mass Effect Writing Circle [1]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Declarations Of Love, F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 05:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11983275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilyasviel/pseuds/Ilyasviel
Summary: A party after the cure of the genophage got interrupted by an Assassin trying to kill Shepard, but the hero of the day is, surprisingly, Joker. And Shepard decides to take care of him and have the talk she has wanted to tell for the last three years.-------------------Wrote during the Mass Effect Writing Circle, with may be more alcohol on my body than planned and very sleep deprived xD The work is not edited, so sorry for any typos and mistakes ;)





	You are precious to me

Joker is sitting on a sofa on the Purgatory. Shepard has done it again. She did the impossible, curing the Genophage and closing a deal between Turians and Krogans. Hackett has ordered a full day of shore leave for all the crew, and she has insisted on bringing all the group to the club. Kaylee is having fun, moving from the couches to the bar, and then to the dance floor. She even tried to coax him to dance with her, but he declined, as always. Why he has to taste what will be to be her partner? He has learned to live with their actual _‘friends’_ relation, no need to give his mind more reasons to fall for her. EDI was here with him, but he coaxes her to pay a visit to Traynor, and enjoy the night for a bit. He will be okay. Damn, they are in a bar, surrounded by allied forces and with half the crew sitting on the couches around him. When at last, she stands and move to sit beside Traynor, the comm specialist’s smile brightens the bar. Shaking his head, Joker leaves the couch, taking off his hat to pass a hand through his hair. He needs a drink, a strong one, and get drunk enough to get an excuse to leave this party and stop seeing the smiling face of Kaylee appearing in front of him every ten minutes.

He was nursing his second serving of old Terran whiskey when Kaylee appears at his side. “Hey, Joker! Are you sure you don’t want to come up and dance with me?”

“Vrolik syndrome here, Shepard. What do you think dancing with you will do with my bones?” He finishes his drink in a long gulp, raising a hand to order another as soon as he rested the glass on the counter.

Kaylee leans on the bar near him, ordering herself one glass of the same he was drinking. “Well, I know that you can’t dance the mambo with me, Joker, but there are many types of dance. But if you didn’t want, I will not force you to do it.”

Joker drinks his whiskey quicker than planned, feeling the warm feeling extending to his fingers at high velocity. “Is not that, Shepard. It's just-- look at this people! They had to survive a Cerberus attack to begin to believe that the war was real. They are not celebrating like you, they are desperate, trying to forget what happened and return to their normality, pretending to be ok again.”

Her drink is in her hand, and she empties it with a single gulp. “Maybe is the only way they knew to deal with what happened, Joker. Damn, I’m trying to forget this shitty day drinking and dancing. I can understand them.” She stands at the bar, ready to go when Joker sees something suspicious. In his fogged mind, it looked like a knife, but it can’t be, right? Looking again while Shepard looks at him with a surprised frown, he looks again and sees the blade clearly sliding from the concealed slot on the jacket of the woman. She is walking directly to Kaylee, and he can see the death in her eyes. Just before the assassin reaches Shepard, he jumps from his post, positioning himself between them and receiving the blade on his side. When Kaylee turns and sees what’s happening, her powers activate, and the blade of her omnitool appears on her hand. Joker uses the adrenaline running through his veins to grab the assassin's hand, keeping her in Shepard’s range. The Commander lets the rage take control, and she charges against her, piercing her shoulder with the blade and twisting it, making the woman cry in pain. Less than a minute later, the rest of the team had the attacker pinned on the floor, without any care of her injury, while Kaidan contacts C-Sec.

Seeing that Kaylee is perfectly fine and the rest had the situation under control, Joker lets his body fall to the ground, landing on his knees hard enough to hurt him even worse than the blade that is still piercing him. He hisses when he moves a hand to the hilt and moves the weapon an inch out. Shepard is on her knees beside him as soon as she hears his grunting. “Damn, Jeff! Don’t touch it. What the hell are you thinking?” Her voice is hard, and her mouth is closed in a tight line, but her hands are soft, taking off his hat while she manoeuvres him to lay on her, helping him to unfold his legs. Her hand moves to put some pressure on the wound, while Kaidan comes closer, medigel ready to apply on his omnitool. “Really, Jeff. Why did you do it? You can have warned me. I can deal with an assassin on hand to hand combat without a breaking a sweat.”

Joker raises his eyes until he locks his gaze on hers. “Easiest answer of the year, Shepard. Because you are someone precious, who deserves to be protected more than anyone, even if you can do it for yourself.” His little speech is cut abruptly when Kaidan extracts the blade from his body. A weak cry leaves him, but Shepard expected him to endure worse the pain, being a pilot and not a foot soldier. He pants a bit, but as soon as the medigel begins to do its magic, he takes a couple of deep breaths before keep talking. “Besides. Now we are even, Kaylee.”

The deep frown on Kaylee’s face has changed to something sweeter, but he can’t catch the meaning of it. Kaidan finishes the scan, touching Joker’s shoulder. “You will be fine, Hero of the night. Let’s take you to the Normandy and get some rest, and tomorrow, the doctor will recheck it.”

A soft smile appears on Kaylee’s face when she looks at him, but he lost sight of it when she turns his attention to Kaidan. “I’ll take him there. After the surprise party from Cerberus, I’m ready to call it a night. I’ll let you fill the gap with Bailey if you don’t mind.”

Shrugging, Kaidan just stands and helps her to put Joker back on his feet. EDI is already there, waiting to help them, but Kaylee insists again that the team has earned the party. Sliding an arm around his hips, Kaidan positions Joker’s arm on Shepard’s shoulders, and he and Vega walked with them to the rapid-trans outside the club.

With all the care she can muster, she makes him sit on the sky-car before turning to face the other two men. “Have fun tonight guys, and tell Bailey that I’m sorry, but at least now C-Sec had an assassin in custody. See you tomorrow.”

Kaidan nods and takes a step back to the club, but Vega closes the distance to Shepard, looking intently into her eyes. “Are you sure?”

“I am.”

Clasping her shoulder, he winks at her before using the hand to push her inside the sky-car. “Then, buena suerte, Lola.” James lowers his voice to avoid to be heard outside the car. “Try not to break our pilot.”

Closing the door, she points the car to the dock where the Normandy is waiting for them. Joker keeps passing a hand over the wound and flinching every time. Kaylee slaps his hand away, charging another half dose of medigel and applying it. “Stop that, you moron. You have been stabbed, of course, it will hurt and sting.”

Another grunt, but this one is half pain, half disgusted noise. “You are welcome, you know, for saving your life and getting myself stabbed to protect you. No need to call me a moron. I’m not accustomed to having myself stabbed, shot, dragged, pulled, punched-- well, you know what I mean. Let me complain about it for a while.”

She giggles with him, letting her hand rest over the wound, some kind of heating program running on her omnitool that eases a bit the pain. “You can complain as much as you want, just don’t touch it for a while. I will dress it when we reach the Normandy and you will feel better, my hero.”

He turns to look at the window, hiding the soft blush on his face from her eyes. The docks were relatively close to the Purgatory, and they reach it in a couple of minutes more. He keeps his silence while she maintains the hand on his side.

Once the sky-car reaches the dock landing zone, Shepard leaves the car, helping him and returning her arms to his waist. “I can walk alone.”

“Are you sure about that? It will hurt like hell if you rest your weight on that side of your body.”

“Completely. I can endure som--holy fucking shit!” She has let her arm fall, leaving his body to carry itself, and as soon as he screams, she returns it to its place with a knowing smile on her face that is screaming _‘I told you’_. Joker groans to her but puts his arm on her shoulders. “Fine, you can carry me, my knight in purple armour.”

They cross the waiting area, a lonely C-Sec officer sitting behind the desk with bored face waves to them when they passed in front of them, but besides that, he even examines who they are. The IV of the station scans them before opening the doors to the ship, and EDI unlocks the door of the Normandy just when they reach it. Shepard moves directly to the elevator, but instead of pulsing the button to the crew quarters level, she pushes the one to her quarters. “Emmm, Shepard, why are we going to your place?”

“Surprise?” As soon as the lift’s door opened, she moves to her inner sanctum, carrying a reticent Joker. The lock detects her biosignature and opens the door, and she steps inside, helping him until they reach the couches area. Kaylaa makes him sit facing the bed and moves aside the coffee table. “Wanna a drink while I prepare the items to dress the wound?”

He feels nervous, didn’t know why because she is just being Shepard. She will take care of him and then will help him to reach his bed. “A whiskey, if you have any, if not, whatever you have.”

Moving to the nightstand, Kaylee opens it and recovers a hip flask, giving it to him while passing beside him on her way to the stairs. “Enjoy it. It's Scottish. The real thing. Anderson smuggled it into my quarters on Earth. Joker can hear her searching in the cabinets of the bathroom, and opening the flask, just closes his eyes to enjoy the scent of the whiskey. Taking a sip, he let the liquid warm inside his mouth, the earthy notes mixing with the ones from the barrels, giving it a special and distinctive flavour.

When he opens his eyes, Kaylee is in front of him, with a lopsided grin on her face. “Glad you like it. Now, give me the flask and take off your shirt. I’ll help if you can’t do it by yourself.”

Joker bites his tongue to avoid the groan that is forming in his throat. _‘God, your sense of_ humour _is awful.'_  Moving a hand to his head, he notes for the first time, that he isn’t wearing his hat. Kaylee seems to see it, and shows it to him, before putting it back in her back pocket. The excuse of the hat gives him the chance to groan this time, and she just chuckles. Joker closes the flask and puts it aside, and begins to open the closings of his uniform.

When he has the zip opened, he tries to take off the shirt without disturbing the wound, to no avail. Leaning in front of him and leaving the items she carries in the couch, Kaylee helps him to undress. They work in silence, and she risks a glance or two to him, only to find him looking at her intently. Blushing softly, she takes the garment in her hands and put it aside, sitting back on her heels to take a good look at him. Just as she has imagined, his upper body is well fitted. Not an ounce of fat on him. Big arms, strong shoulders good abs. With a sigh, she moves to recover the items she had retrieved from the bathroom. “I’ll apply a variant of medigel that Mordin developed for me. It has some anaesthetic agents that calm the pain and let you make regular life until the wound healed completely. Then I will dress it to immobilise it a bit. That way you will not hurt yourself while moving.”

Sliding to the end of the couch, Jokers turns slightly to his left to give her better access to the wound. She stands on her knees and begins to apply the medigel directly to the wound. The smell of it fills their nostrils, but Joker is more preoccupied on controlling his body when her hands touched his skin. The heat of her fingers is spreading through his body, and he needs to rein it. Luckily, the medigel is applied easily, and he moves to the next stage, bandaging his mid body and crossing it across his unwounded side’s shoulder.

Kaylee finishes with it and cleans her hands with a wet wipe before putting all the items on the coffee table behind her. She remains on her knees and smiles and him, before recovering the hat from her pocket and putting it on in his head. “There. Almost like new, my hero.”

Joker expects to her to move back now that he is ready to go, but instead of it, she leans closer, planting a kiss on his cheek with a muttered _‘Thank you’_. His hand moves to touch the spot she has kissed, making her giggle. “Just tell me a thing. Did you mean what you said at the bar?”

“What? That you are the most precious thing, we have? Ehm, yeah? Of course, I mean it. Why did you ask?”

Lowering her gaze to his knees, she fidgets with one of the pockets of his pants. “Alcheera. You always wanted to know why I did it. Why I risked my life for you. Just for the same reason than you stepped between a sword and me today. You are very precious to me, Jeff.”

“You can be saying what I think you are saying.”

Her gaze goes up to lock with his, while one of her hands moves to cup his face. “What? Can't I fall in love with my best friend? With my anchor in the middle of this nightmare? With the only person that has been here for me since the first days of the Normandy?”

His eyes closed, breath catching on his chest while his brain tries to find a second side to her words. Not finding any, he still can’t believe it. “This is real? Why now? Why not during the Collector's’ missions?”

Kaylee lets her hand fall and sits back on her heels, looking defeated. “Short version? I was scared. What if you didn’t feel the same? What if I scared you and lost my only friend? I needed you too much to risk to push you aside. But then everything goes FUBAR when the Reapers attack and seeing the end so close… I don’t know. I just didn’t want to leave this life with the doubt in my mind. Vega has been trying to compel me to talk to you since we left Earth. Shit, it sounds so stupid when I say it aloud… I can face a Reaper, on foot, while a Thresher Maw fights with him and I dodge brutes, but I can talk with you about my feelings.” Taking a deep breath, she stands on her knees again, leaning both hands on his knees. “Death will not catch me with this trapped inside me again. I’m in love with you, Jeff. I’ve been since Noveria. And please, if you didn’t feel the same, just don’t let this knowledge stole my only true friend here."

Joker can believe his ears. His brain is still deciphering her words, but his heart has read the lines without problems and is beating like crazy inside his chest. “Damn, you are serious, right?” She nods, biting her lower lip, waiting for his response. Instead of answering her, he moves his hands and let his fingers delve in her head, pulling her closer until she can feel her breath directly over his lips. “I love you too, Kaylee. Almost since the first day we meet.” Closing the distance, he let his mouth ghost over hers, giving her lips soft peaks. Several heartbeats later, she reacts, moving a bit closer and wrapping her arms around his chest while nesting herself between his legs. The kiss deepened, and Joker’s tongue teases her lower lip until she takes the hint and opens for him, moaning softly when their tongues dance inside her mouth. The unique taste of him mixed with the old Scottish is making her dizzy.

She breaks the kiss, resting her forehead on his. “Glad to hear it, Jeff.” Moving a bit back but leaving her hands on his shoulders, she bites her lower lip again. “As much as I want to ravish you until I scratched the crave of the past three years, you are injured, and I didn’t want to make it worse.”

When Joker sighs, defeated, she giggles. “Tomorrow, Doc will close the wound, and you will be perfectly fine for the night, to be mine to begin to catch up with all the loose time.” Leaning closer again, she plants a kiss on his nose and steals the hat from him. “Besides, no one has said that you can’t sleep here with me. I dreamed waking up in your arms for so long…”

Grabbing her hands, he brings them up, kissing every knuckle on it. “Lead the way, Commander, and I will follow, as I always done.”

The morning finds them with Joker sleeping on Kaylee’s shoulder while she plays with the hair on his head and beard, a smile that can shine a full planet system plastered on her face. They are together, at last, at the end of all things.


End file.
